Bike License in Toronto II

Toronto should kill the idea of bike licenses once and for all: Editorial

The last think the city should be doing is discouraging cyclists with a pointless licensing scheme.

Toronto Star, Sunday, July 10, 2016

It’s the policy proposal that just won’t die. The idea of bicycle licensing, though derided by experts, repeatedly rejected by city staff and shunned by municipalities around the world, has nevertheless been resurrected once again in Toronto.

The practice, which the city dropped in 1957, is occasionally dusted off as an option by councillors who wrongly claim it will improve enforcement of road rules or raise extra revenues. Three times in recent decades the city looked into the idea and each time it threw it out as unnecessary, impractical and costly.

But apparently those appraisals don’t satisfy Councillor Stephen Holyday, who has submitted a motion asking transportation staff to consider the idea yet again.

You would be forgiven for wondering why. As Holyday acknowledged to the Star last week, police already have the tools they need to deal with cyclists breaking the law; the Highway Traffic Act gives them the power to ticket bad-acting bike-riders.

Nor would the program be the money-maker its supporters sometimes suggest. The bureaucratic costs of processing licenses, and keeping an up-to-date database of all bicycles in the city, would almost certainly eclipse revenues. As Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, the city’s manager of cycling programs, points out, no comparable jurisdiction has a licensing system where the fees cover even the administrative costs. No way would the program fund the building of new infrastructure, as Holyday claims.

Yet, despite its well-established folly, the idea seemingly can’t be killed. In fact, it has persistent and substantial popular support. A recent Forum Research poll found 56 per cent of respondents are in favour of bicycle licensing. That’s likely in part because the policy is seen as a way to punish the city’s cyclists, who remain unpopular in many quarters. As Holyday told the Star, there is a perception that “if cyclists have exclusive use of infrastructure, they should also have to shoulder the cost of that.”

But the premise that only cyclists benefit from cycling infrastructure is faulty. Bike lanes make the roads safer for motorists and bike-riders alike. And safer roads encourage more people to cycle, which in turn creates a healthier population, eases gridlock and reduces carbon emissions.

For the most part, council seems to understand this. Last month the city pledged about $150 million toward cycling infrastructure over the next 10 years. Clearly it shouldn’t undermine this wise investment by discouraging people from cycling with a pointless licensing scheme. It’s time to bury this bad idea once and for all.